


Second Chance

by dame_de_la_chance



Category: Code Lyoko, Code Lyoko Evolution
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Male Friendship, but it all works out, i watched evolution a while back and i really liked the friendship Odd and William eventually formed, slight hint of willodd because I’m a useless gay, sort of a character analysis of william, ulrich’s infamous jealously striking again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 05:45:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15090278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dame_de_la_chance/pseuds/dame_de_la_chance
Summary: Ulrich notices how close William and Odd had gotten, and decides to figure out why Odd befriended him.





	Second Chance

Ulrich watched from across the table, his eyes trained on the two boys a little ways away. They were chatting quietly, a book in Williams hands and a paper football in Odd’s that he waved around as he spoke.

Yumi sat to his left, and Jeremie and Aelita were directly across from him. Yumi was reading a book of poetry for her Italian class, and Aelita and Jeremie were busy coding some new program they hoped to use for the Skid. Ulrich was aimlessly doodling a soccer ball in the corner of his math homework as he watched the other two boys.

It was study hall, the last class of the day before Ulrich had to go to an out of town soccer competition. The monitor, Jim, had fallen asleep quite a while ago, leaving the students free to chat so as long as they weren’t too loud. The noise level had increased just enough for Ulrich to be unable to hear what William and Odd were talking about.

From Odd’s animated gestures and William’s enthusiastic nodding, they weren’t bickering. A small wave of jealousy washed over Ulrich, and his grip on his pencil tightened. It was stupid to be envious, especially of William. And besides, Odd was free to make other friends than him and the usual gang; Ulrich wasn’t going to stop him.

And of course, there were worse people he could be trying to befriend. 

(Namely, Laura. He’d sometimes catch Odd lingering around her, attempting to chat her up. It often resulted in them bickering, and ended with Laura hitting him or shooing him away. He’d actually voiced his concerns to Odd about that friendship- but Odd shrugged him off. They weren’t quite friends, and it didn’t seem to be going anywhere, and Laura seemed to be a little less lonely, so he eventually stopped nagging).

Ulrich didn’t even hate William anymore, for that matter. At least, not like he used to. Now, it was more of a tense grudge against him than outright hatred against the older boy. They were still rough because of their past spats about Yumi, their occasionally opposing personalities, and of course, his possession.

It was more of the fact that he just didn’t trust William, he decided, was the reason he was uneasy by Odd and William’s friendship.

No one really did. They all knew, realistically, that it wasn’t really William’s fault that he was possessed. He was inexperienced, and sure he had downplayed the danger, but in the beginning they all had, hadn’t they? Pretended it was just like playing a video game?

But the things he did couldn’t be taken back. They only one who really accepted William at first had been Aelita, but they never really hung out together because she was always busy with school work, coding programs against XANA, or Jeremie.

And yet here was Odd, chatting up their once enemy as if they had been long time friends. He wondered what had changed between the two, wondered what he had missed that caused their friendship to form.

In fact, last he remembered, Odd hated William for the stunt he pulled a month or so ago. He had been bitter about it for a while, even after he had gotten pay back for William leaving him locked in that room to get himself on Lyoko.

Now they were best friends.

Yumi shifted beside him, and he could feel her eyes on him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see her gazing at him, before her eyes slowly followed Ulrich’s gaze to the backs of William and Odd.

She glanced back at him, and looked ready to say something, before ultimately deciding to go back to her book. Ulrich was glad; he loved her, but he wasn’t in the mood to endure a lecture on his jealousy or face curious inquires about why he was so focused on the two.

The bell rang, and Ulrich gathered his stuff. Jim startled awake, and stuttered out a dismissal, rubbing his eyes as he tried to wake up. 

Ulrich needed to get to the gym quickly, and he shoved his way through the mess of students and chairs to get to the door. He lingered for a moment, watching as Odd and William collected their stuff and began to walk together. 

He’d have to ask Odd his questions. 

Maybe he’ll do it tonight; Odd shouldn’t be busy, since Aelita and Jeremie were going on a date and Yumi was stuck babysitting Hiroki, and as far as he knew, Odd didn’t have a new girlfriend.

He turned from the door and began his trek to the gym.

 

It was later that night did Ulrich find himself in his dorm room, and he felt tired. The soccer game had left him exhausted, and he was thankful the trip to and from the smaller town wasn’t that long of a drive. All he wanted to do was go to bed.

He shuffled toward his bed, glad he had taken a shower at the locker room, and sat down. Odd was across from him, lying in what had to be the most awkward position he’d ever seen him in, a game boy pressed to his face as he hung haphazardly upside down.

“How’d it go?” Odd asked, his eyes still trained on the screen. The lights were off since it was way past curfew, and the bright light from the screen illuminated his face, a questioning expression exposed by the light.

“We won,” Ulrich answered, unable to hide the pride in his voice. The game had been long and drawn out. Those Lincoln students were tough, but Ulrich had shot the winning score. He was a little disappointed that Odd wasn’t able to come, but he knew a home game was going to happen soon.

Odd glanced up just long enough to shoot him a grin. “Nice! Left them in the dust, didn’t you, you super stud?!”

“You could say that.”

Ulrich laughed as he laid down, and watched Odd for a little while longer. His earlier inquiries began to worm their way back into his head, and he wondered how he should word them.

Odd seemed to sense something was up. “You’re staring at me,” he commented, before wincing as a game over appeared on his screen. He started a new game, and continued, “I know I have amazingly good looks and most people can’t keep their eyes off me, but this seems a bit excessive. So what’s up?”

Ulrich rolled his eyes at his friend’s narcissism, but obliged. “Just thinking. I have a question.”

“Shoot.”

“Are you and William friends?”

Odd’s eyes snapped up from his game for a moment, searching him with suspicion. He glanced back at his game, seeming content with whatever he found, and answered, “Well, I’d like to think so. If not, these last few weeks had been quite a waste.”

“But I thought you didn’t like him?” Ulrich pressed. “I thought you didn’t trust him, especially after he left you in that closet for hours?”

The words ‘you won’ flashed on Odd’s screen, and Odd took a deep breath, seemingly not happy about his win. He slowly closed his game boy and began to sit up in a position that seemed normal.

“I didn’t,” Odd began, leaning his head on his hands as he tried to word his next sentences. “I was kind of bitter that he pulled that dumb trick, but I got my revenge on him, so I felt that we were pretty even.”

Odd began to move again, choosing to lay on his back. His eyes were trained on the ceiling, no longer daring to look at Ulrich as he continued, “And then I began to understand why he did it.”

Ulrich frowned. “Huh?”

“Well, as much as William is charming, he’s only decent at swaying girls. Making friends and getting girlfriends are two different art forms. So, for the longest time, William was kind of alone and really only had Yumi around. And then that sort of got strained and he became alone.”

He paused. “But then, he helped us with that bomb. And covered Yumi’s back by helping her escape from photography class. And we invited him into our group, and he had friends. He had us; Jeremie, Aelita, Yumi, me, and although begrudgingly, you. And William wasn’t alone.

“But then came his first mission, and he became XANAfied, and all the shit that happened after that. And William doesn’t remember much of his time under XANA. So when he came back, he didn’t know all the things that happened, and thought that we’d all still be friends. And it didn’t happen.

“We didn’t trust him. At all. Aelita did, but the rest of us kind of treated him like dirt and he didn’t really understand why.”  
Ulrich licked his lips, soaking in his words. He was right; they had all treated him a little harshly, and if he didn’t remember anything, that would have been quite the shock.

“And then we shut down the super computer, and moved on, and kind of ignored him. And we could move on, because we’d been there for the past months, we knew what had happened and what led up to his defeat. William didn’t really have that closure, didn’t understand a lot. And then we ignored him. So he was all alone and confused.

“And now XANA’s back, and of course William would want to help. He wants to right all the wrongs he made and he wants to reconnect with all of you and become a proper member of our gang. And locking me in that closet allowed him to have a reason to get virtualised and help the others.”

Odd paused, closing his eyes as he sighed. “So I don’t blame him for what he did. It was shallow and dumb, but I would have done the same thing. I think after all we’ve been through, and after all he’s been through, he deserves a friend.”

Ulrich watched him with wide eyes. It was a long explanation that he hadn’t really anticipated. He figured Odd just wasn’t able to hold grudges and since they had similar interests, they’d hit it off.

“I see,” he finally answered back. Odd turned to face him, a small smile on his face.

“He’s a nice guy. You ought to give him a chance.” 

Ulrich paused. “Maybe.”

Odd turned back onto his side, facing away from Ulrich, and pulled the covers over him. Before Ulrich could say anything else, Odd said, “Good night, buddy.”

Ulrich laid on his side for a moment, thinking over their conversation. “Good night.”

 

 

It was the next day, and Ulrich watched from the other side of the lunchroom as Odd lingered over by Laura. He never did stop pestering her, and he was sitting at her table, the two engaged in a dumb argument neither would remember in a few hours.

Odd wasn’t taking her seriously, and was smiling as he listened to her angry words, whatever they were.

Ulrich smiled and went back to his food. Yumi was next to him, and raised an eyebrow.

“You’re in high spirits,” she observed. “Did Theo trip and fall during your soccer game yesterday?”

It was true that Ulrich wasn’t very fond of his ‘rival’ in soccer. “Nope.”  
“Then why do you seem...” Yumi paused, trying to find the words. “Cheerful?”

“No reason,” he answered, watching as Laura finally got sick of Odd and shoved him out of his chair with a book. Odd was laughing and gave her a wink before whirling his tray away. He was going back for seconds, no doubt.

“He still won’t leave her alone?” Jeremie asked, settling into the chair across from Ulrich.

Aelita appeared next to him, already chewing on a banana. “I don’t see why he’s so set on making her a friend.”

“He’s not,” Ulrich stated. “He doesn’t like her much.”

Aelita frowned. “Then why does he spend so much time with her?”

Ulrich wondered if that was jealousy in her voice. He didn’t really want to talk about it, and Jeremie interrupted by saying, “He’s probably just desperate to get a new girlfriend.”

Aelita didn’t look satisfied. “But he has Sam?”

Ulrich zoned out of their conversation, no longer interested in their theories about Odd’s strange interest in her, and noticed Odd and William standing in line together. Odd had made a stupid joke and William was laughing as they reached for a napkin.

Their hands brushed, and Odd immediately stiffened. William didn’t notice and handed him the napkin before getting his own. The two continued on their merry way, still joking.

Ulrich grinned and kept to himself as he turned back to Yumi, who had been watching the two along with him.

“They had gotten quite close, huh?” 

“Yeah,” Ulrich said, his mind going back to their conversation last night.

Odd cheerfully appeared at their table, a second serving on his plate. William followed, looking slightly nervous and uncertain as he trailed behind.

“Hey guys,” Odd greeted. “Mind if William joins us?”

Yumi’s gaze shifted to Ulrich, and he could feel the other watching him. They knew he still didn’t care for him all that much.

“Sure,” Ulrich agreed flippantly, Odd’s words of _‘You ought to give him a chance’_ echoing in his skull. He pointedly ignored the surprised looks from the others, and watched the two boys settle down.

Odd grinned and sat next to him, shooting him a small wink. William sat in between Aelita and Odd, and looked rather happy.

Ulrich smiled to himself.

There was still some bad blood between them, but a small part of him was looking forward to this new beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> I like William and Odd’s relationship in Evolution. 
> 
> William did deserve better. He’s kinda trash, but I don’t think they should have given him the cold shoulder since XANA’s possession wasn’t really his fault.
> 
> Also, I always felt Odd was the more empathetic extrovert of the group. Aelita has the potential, but she’s also bogged down by a lot of her trauma, so while she could be an extrovert, I don’t think that will happen for a while. So I feel like Odd would be the one to really try and get William in the group, because their interactions in the original series were short but they seemed like decent friends. 
> 
> I also just liked the concept of Odd annoying Laura so she wouldn’t be so alone.


End file.
